As technomads – our mobile electrical systems are the lifeblood of our various nomadic homes. After all – we need to keep all this technology powered up somehow. And while stock RV and boat electrical systems are often perfectly useable (if somewhat limited) – whenever we embrace a technomadic home we just can’t resist diving […]
solar
The (Almost) Fantasy of Solar-Powered RV Air Conditioning
We see the questions all the time – people wondering: What will it take to run an RV air conditioner off of solar power? We get asked for advice in email regularly, and see the topic constantly coming up on various forums. (And now the Wynn’s are claiming they’re doing it – they’re not really, see […]
Back to Boondocking: Being Electrically Abundant in a Mostly Electric RV
We’ve seen it advised so many times on RVing groups and forums, if you want to boondock – you have to rely on propane for cooking, refrigeration, hot water heating and heating. If your coach is electrically dependent, don’t bother trying to boondock for long. We say.. phooey to that. It is entirely possible to feel […]
Re-Charging near Cibola National Wildlife Refuge
Oh goodness, it’s amazing how quickly two weeks can pass us by like the blink of an eye. At our last travelogue, we were wrapping up our first ever visit to Quartzsite. Instead of waiting in line at one of the dump stations in town after our boondocking stay off Plomosa Road and paying nearly […]
Living the Lithium Lifestyle – 3.5 Year Lithium RV Battery Update
One of the most unusual frequently asked questions we get asked out on the road: “How’s your lithium batteries working out?” We’ve even had strangers come up to ask, occasionally without even saying hi first! But I get the curiosity. That we are using lithium batteries for our RV house battery bank is one of […]
Solar Planning: Conducting An RV Electrical Consumption Audit
We get asked all the time: “How much solar power do I need?” But when I reply with – “Well, how much power do you use in a day?”, I almost always get a blank stare in response. We encounter only a handful of RVers who have any idea of just how much power various electrical devices […]
Technomadia’s RV Solar Challenge
I have been a fan of solar power as long as I have been living on the road. One of the first projects I tackled when I first became nomadic way back in 2006 was adding 130W of solar to the back of my tiny Tab Clamshell. I think it was my abundance of sexy solar […]
Living via Solar Power in an RV (Our Oliver Travel Trailer Install – 2008-2011)
2012 Update: This post was written based off our last RV – a 17′ Oliver Travel Trailer that was designed for being off grid. After 3 years of full time travel in the Oliver, in June 2011 we moved into a 35′ vintage bus to create something more versatile. We are in the process of […]
RV & Solar – Electric Wiring Issues
There are a few important things to know about electricity when wiring up an RV or solar electric system. Electrical energy (Watts) is is determined by multiplying voltage (Volts) by current (Amps). This means that as you decrease the voltage on a wire, the current required to send the same amount of power increases. For […]
RV Battery Monitoring
Boondocking or “dry camping” in an RV without a battery monitor is like driving a car without a gas gauge. If you fill your tank up everyday and never drive further than to the corner store, this strategy can work just fine. But if you are going to do any sort of serious camping without […]
